Thank You

To some this may seem a little over the top. But I am so grateful to everyone that has supported me through my journey. I hope you all realise how much your support has meant to me in my time of need.

Thank you to my wonderful, gorgeous, loving, family, Curtis, Ella and Lila. Without your help, support and love over the last year, I am not sure I would have survived. Ella and Lila should never have witnessed the tears, angry mum on the angry tablets but that never phased them to put their arms around me and tell me they loved me and it was going to be okay. It was these moments that have spurned me on to beat this and stay strong. Ella, I couldn’t have got through the days Dad wasn’t around without you. Cooking dinner and bathing your sister. Telling me it was going to be okay, when I could barely move. you shouldn’t have had to go through any of that, I am so sorry for snapping at you when I wasn’t in my right mind. I love you so much. Curtis, you have been my rock. I can’t imagine how hard its been for you at times, with a moody, depressed, emotional wreck of a wife. You have cooked, cleaned and looked after us all when I was really bad and you would have just finished a really long day at work and driven home to what I can only describe as hell! I couldn’t have got to where I am today without you by my side, telling me it was going to be okay. Thank you, I love you so much. xxxxxx

To my Mum and David, thank you for all your support. Having you come with me to appointments, listening to me cry my eyes out after awful meetings or a disappointing blood result. You are always there for me. Thank you.xxx

Hannah, without your tenacity to read the worlds longest email and then pass it onto the right person, I am forever in your debt. Without your support, I wouldn’t have met Geoff and had a chance with ITV or Channel 4. I love you to bits. You are an amazing cousin and bloody brilliant director/producer. I so hope we get to work together.

To my wonderful friends that have called or text most days to make sure I am on the right side of life. Fran, my best friend whom I love so much and whom ALWAYS lifts me up. You really are the sister I never had. Thank you for your never ended, effortless support. Thank you for listening to me sob down the phone, rant about consultants and constantly talk about boobs, my gut and food. You are the best and I couldn’t have done the last year with out you by my side day in day out. Lucy Lou, best neighbour and friend ever!!! Thank you for cutting up the pineapple for me to juice when I couldn’t even hold a knife, let alone use it properly. For supporting me and listening to me bang on about what I could and couldn’t eat. For being excited with me when I had my first potato after two months. But most of all, for understanding that I couldn’t get hammered with you this summer and sing to 80’s classics! Next summer.. we shall make up for it. Kerry, you are just amazing. Everyday you text me to see if I was okay, how an appointment went, if I needed anything. You’ve helped me with the kids. You’ve guided me to go and see people to help me regain my life back. YOU are amazing and without you over the last year, I really don’t know what I would have done with out you. I owe you so much and I will never forget all your support and encouragement. Louise, you have been such a support to me. Thank you for always being at the end of the phone and helping me through some really tough times and decisions. I can’t wait to spend more holidays and weekends with you and the Ellis crew again, and drink much bubbles and wine. LOVE YOU to bits. Zoe, thank you so much for helping me with the kids for school pick ups and drop offs. For checking in on me and making sure I was doing okay. You are a true friend and I will always be there for you and I still feel guilty about the time you made delicious scones and I couldn’t eat them, I hope they are in the freezer still waiting for me. Jayne, you were pregnant and moving and up to your eyeballs in your own life stuff, yet you had the time to stop and listen to me when I was in a real flap about life and whether I should or shouldn’t take the dreaded methotrexate. You always picked up the phone when I really needed you and gave me so much support. I love you to bits. Arun, your support all those months ago and putting me in contact with another rheumatologist was so kind. I will always be thankful to you for that. Wilifer, Twinifer (Emma) Thank you for the advice where I have needed advice on blood tests and other ‘i need a qualified nurse’ questions. Innis & Eithne, Thank you for coming to my rescue in Brighton when I felt dreadful, you saved me that night. Steve Chapman, Thank you for making me leave the party when you could see I was ill. You also saved me that night. So much love to you. Laura H, thank you for the long phone call when I needed to ask lots of questions. Sarah C, for introducing me to some great recipe books. I would have starved during my elimination diet. Thank you.

To the School Run Mums: Thank you to Tracey A and Emma A for the offer to help with the kids and school run if I ever needed it. Aussie Jo, for all your kind offers of having the kids, or offering to swap your work days to take me to my operation, your kindness that day blew me away. Emma L, for being a constant support through my troubles with the consultant when you had your own issues. Having someone that was going through something similar to talk to has been so comforting. I hope you find 100% health. Sue H, thank you for taking time out to help me and checking in on me too. Emma A, Sam, Helen C, Lisa H, Mary and Jules, for always checking I was okay.

Maureen Mackie. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without your healing and showing me how to meditate. Meditation has calmed my anxieties down and I couldn’t have done that without your time. THANK YOU. Kim Snelling, you are the best Pilates teacher and the best at remedial massage. You have also been a huge support and your texts to check on me, fill me with determination to kick this into last year. Can’t wait to come back to Pilates. You walk into Maggie‘s an absolute wreck, with no idea of which direction to take or how to handle the next hurdle and you come out with complete clarity and inner calm. I owe you so much. You are inspirational lady and I have so much love for you. Thank you Maggie for everything.

Becky Fuller & Sarah J Cass, two of the BEST agents in the world. Your support, understanding over the last year have been incredible and helped me get focused. Becky, I will never forget the long phone call helping me decide about the medication and speaking to family members to relay their story back to me of how they coped with it. THANK YOU. SJ, you were going through your own stuff on the other side of the world, yet you were there for me and I love our conversations putting the world to rights. I can’t wait to come visit you now I am nearly 100% again. LOVE YOU xx

My Breasties: To each and every lady on Breast Implant Illness and Healing by Nicole. Sharing your stories helped me to realise I wasn’t alone. Nicole Daruda, I am so grateful to you for starting this group. Your support has helped thousands, me included and I am forever in debt to you. Katie Wicks, we met on the US site and have become firm friends. You were always there to help support me through my tough times, even when you were going through utter hell yourself. You are inspirational lady cakes and your determination to keep on going through times when you could barley breathe or move has spurned on so many ladies. I have so much respect and love for you. Sandy Coopedycoops , without you I would not have set up the UK Breast Implant Illness and Healing group. Your knowledge, determination to turn over every single stone and discover new studies and ways for us to heal is simply awesome. I love the fact we have teamed up and together I know we can help so many women. Thank you for supporting me when I’ve needed it and giving the best advice a super nurse could give. So much love and respect for you chick x To my beautiful Debie Thompson all the way out in NZ. Through BII we have become such amazing friends yet we live on the other side of the world and never actually met in person. I can’t wait for that day. You are also an inspiration to us all. Nearly on deaths door, you are now starting to live your life again and it warms my heart to see you achieve so much more. Thank you for being such a wonderful, positive light in my life. Love you lots xx Barbara Stanistreet, you have no idea how much I respect and adore you. Your book is heartbreaking, yet compelling to read. You are the ultimate fighter and one we all look up to. Thank you for your emails and help during my time of need. To all my lovely ladies on the UK BII site. Your support for others during your own time of need, is awe inspiring. I love you all and thank you for making our little group so special. I wish you all speedy healing, happiness and oodles of health.

Dr L Douglass, you are an incredible GP and the fact you haven’t taken me off your books for taking up most of your appointment slots by face or by phone, I am forever in your debt. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for listening to me, thank you for understanding and never questioning BII. THANK YOU for everything. Cheryl, thank you for our chats when I come to see you. Without you, things could be a little different. You are bloody great at your job too. Dr M for taking time out of his hectic schedule to talk to me. You are a wonderful man.

Dawn Reid.. THANK YOU for coming with me to toxicology and supporting me that day. Thank you for taking time to find ways of getting me tested for Xylene privately whilst boarding a plane to Maui! You are such an ace friend and I couldn’t have got through that time without you. Love you xxx